tzijlstra Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 I'll be taking my car in tomorrow morning so it might be useless posting this here now, but I just got back from a short journey, only the third time I used the 07 Jazz in a month and all three short journeys I might add, and this time the battery light in the dash came on, it went off when over 25 mph. According to the handbook it is a charging problem and the fact that it goes out over 25 mph makes me think it is the alternator maybe? As it hasn't been used a lot could it just be the battery? It still has the original 8 year old battery in it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowglobe Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 They will need to check the charge rate of the alternator and the capacity of the battery to give an informed diagnosis & do a simulated drop test to simulate the start up current loss. It could be the alternator not charging the battery or belts slipping etc, it could be that the car is not used on journeys where the battery gets charged up enough to replace the start up loss, the tests should establish which component it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzijlstra Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 They will need to check the charge rate of the alternator and the capacity of the battery to give an informed diagnosis & do a simulated drop test to simulate the start up current loss. It could be the alternator not charging the battery or belts slipping etc, it could be that the car is not used on journeys where the battery gets charged up enough to replace the start up loss, the tests should establish which component it is. So definitely have to bank on some diagnostic work, cheers for the heads up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonJeremy Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Almost definitely the alternator not charging properly. Of course it may be the unit or the belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon1 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Almost definitely the alternator not charging properly Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dardandec Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 A duff battery wont put the charge lamp on as it doesn't measure that. Could be an engine earth fault, has the gearbox been removed recently? First thing to do when eliminating engine earth faults is to connect a jump lead from the negative terminal on the battery to a good solid point on the engine or gearbox, then try it again. If this doesn't cure it, it is very likely then to be the drive belt or alternator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzijlstra Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 Thanks all, will try that Dardandec before taking it to the garage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricgem2002 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 if you have a multi meter tim try this http://www.aa1car.com/library/2003/us20310.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carosio Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 A duff battery wont put the charge lamp on as it doesn't measure that. Could be an engine earth fault, has the gearbox been removed recently? First thing to do when eliminating engine earth faults is to connect a jump lead from the negative terminal on the battery to a good solid point on the engine or gearbox, then try it again. If this doesn't cure it, it is very likely then to be the drive belt or alternator. I had an Astra and the battery was always running down. The dash light would go out as normal so I changed the battery twice before I measured the resistance from the negative terminal to earth which read 11 ohm (should be 0). So yes it was a bad connection on the alternator to chassis lead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 As it hasn't been used a lot could it just be the battery? It still has the original 8 year old battery in it... Very possibly. It could be that its not holding a full charge. But before you spend, get it tested for free, give all the cables a look over to ensure they're clean and secure, then check the alternator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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